Challenge:
As well as being the UK’s national weather and climate service, the Met Office also provides vital forecasting services for military and commercial transport across the globe. The organisation has a complex IT estate, ranging from supercomputers and servers to workstations and laptops, across the UK and in a number of offices around the world. Ensuring that systems are continually available is crucial to maintaining the high levels of accuracy and quality of service provided by the Met Office. Like all UK public-sector organisations, it must also reduce costs while safeguarding services.
Solution:
Computacenter worked with the Met Office to define a support contract that was fit for purpose while minimising costs. It provides break-fix services for the organisation’s Cisco-based network, 350-plus Dell servers and Dell workstations across the UK and supplies spare parts to international locations. Computacenter provided a seamless transition from the incumbent service provider, including retaining a highly valued and experienced on-site engineer at Met Office headquarters through TUPE (Transfer of Undertakings, Protection of Employment). Its nationwide engineering operation ensures a cost-efficient service for more remote UK locations, while highly efficient procurement and logistics processes enable spare parts to be quickly ordered and delivered, within just hours for some locations.
Outcome:
By reviewing its support requirements and leveraging Computacenter’s engineering resources and efficient processes, the Met Office has been able to achieve cost savings in excess of £100,000 a year. Streamlined procurement procedures have also increased efficiency and together with a reliable and high-quality support service, have freed up management time to focus on further improving service to its users. This is helping the Met Office meet government requirements for cost savings while maintaining its services.
